Category: Out of London

An October week in Malta was the perfect antidote to the autumn London blues. We indulged in the obligatory game of ‘what if we lived here?’ and quickly discovered that we couldn’t afford it, or at least not in one of the traditional townhouses with Maltese balconies that we admired so much. Someone is certainly …

We’ve been on holiday, but thought that was even more reason to share some thoughts on the restaurants we saw on our travels. We spent a week in a fabulous Airbnb apartment in Sliema, perched at the top of the hill nestled amongst the traditional Maltese residential area. From here we were in easy walking …

This is a local treasure, and as it’s under a five minute walk from the tube station (Buckhurst Hill is on the east side of the Central line) it’s easily accessible, sitting right on the London/Essex border. Living nearby, we love Buckhurst Hill for it’s quiet village-like atmosphere. The Queen’s Rooms is a cafe by …

Beccles is a lovely place for a weekend get away, or longer if you can manage it. We had another marvellous Airbnb stay, this time at the former Butler’s rooms in a large Georgian Palladian mansion. It was an island of tranquility, surrounded by rolling hills and woodland, and just a 15 minutes stroll from …

First real rain of the summer and we were off to a pre-planned weekend in the Cotswolds. Ah well, nothing to be done about the weather and I was to meet one of A.’s oldest friends. Breakfast Bounties It would be a tough weekend, but luckily the Lansdowne was the perfect place to give me the …

We had barely unpacked and settled into to our Airbnb studio flat in Madrid before venturing out to explore the local neighbourhood. On our way to find supplies we passed La Libre, and knew immediately we had found our local brunch and coffee hideout. It’s close to Atocha station and near the Empresa Ruiz metro …

On our last night in Madrid we wanted to try something typically Spanish. That sounds a bit touristy, doesn’t it? It was our big mistake. What we didn’t think about was that all the tavernas and bars in Madrid are doing something typically Spanish, largely by virtue of being, well, spanish! So, we can’t really …

A city break was our next romance milestone and we decided to visit Madrid. It’s a fabulous city, and we were lucky enough to have a local guide for the whole weekend in the shape of A.’s lovely friend Anna. Our first stop was the Reina Sofia museum of modern art, where we took a …

We’re lucky to live on the Essex/London border so as well as having all that London has to offer a short tube hop away, we can also explore some beautiful countryside right on our doorstep. Essex comes in for a lot of stick, but for every blinged-up over-priced eatery catering to the perma-tanned TOWIE crowd, …

Lowestoft is a town dominated by carveries and not the natural home of the Gastro Pub, so the Blue Boar in Oulton is an oddity (technically not actually Lowestoft, but no letters please). Our weekend for meeting family was coming to an end. We had enjoyed pies at Ropeworks and a dinner at the Harvester and …